SpaceX launched a satellite into its transfer orbit on June 6th for US pay-radio broadcaster SiriusXM. The launch, SpaceX’s 18th so far this year, placed the 7500 lbs SiriusXM SXM-8 satellite into a transfer orbit with a lift-off just after midnight at 12.26am EDT (4.26 UTC) from Cape Canaveral. The success follows on from an […]
The risk of satellites bumping into each other is already very real. Now China is joining the low Earth orbit ‘space race’ and planning to launch around 20,000 new craft into orbit. Add this 20,000 to the near-40,000 planned by Elon Musk, another 3300 from Jeff Bezos, around 800 from the UK-backed OneWeb plus dozens […]
In 2020, Elon Musk’s SpaceX organisation bought two retired oil rigs and started transforming one of them into its first floating spaceport. In July 2020, Lone Star Mineral Development LLC, a subsidiary of SpaceX, bought two semi-submersible drilling rigs from Valaris plc for a reported $3.5 million each. Deimos and Phobos (named after two of […]
California-based satellite broadband supplier Viasat has filed an objection to the FCC’s granting of $885 million to SpaceX and its Starlink satellite service. The FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) awarded the sum to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service in December 2021. The award was part of a massive $9.2 billion granted to successful applicants, and […]
Germany says it is prepared to help its citizens living in rural areas to access better Internet services with subsidies. The government’s Transport Ministry says it will subsidise the purchase of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite dishes and similar providers of wireless Internet connections with grants to households worth €500, business daily Handelsblatt reported. The €500 on […]
A slew of objectors is grumbling to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system. We have reported on Viasat’s complaints, but SES, Hughes Network and others are also arguing for the FCC to either suspend or modify its April 27th permission for SpaceX/Starlink to alter their orbital plans. Some of the […]
May 26th saw SpaceX launch another 60 of its Starlink satellites. This means that there are almost 1600 working Starlinks either orbiting or being moved to their target positions. In total Starlink has orbited 1737 satellites although some were test craft and others have failed and been deorbited. The Starlink 28 flight took place at […]
California-based satellite operator Viasat has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to stop – or at least pause – SpaceX from launching any more of its Starlink satellites. Last month the FCC ruled that SpaceX could modify its licence and place some satellites into different orbits than originally permitted. The request to the FCC from […]
Last week it was the Netherlands, and this week the SpaceX Starlink broadband-by-satellite service has been extended to Belgium – or at least a service has been promised in the near future. An email from Starlink to potential subscribers in Belgium stresses that the system will still suffer short periods without a connection while Starlink […]
As SpaceX gears up for its next Starlink satellite launch on May 26th, the business has announced that its beta-test programme is now available in the Netherlands. Adding the country means that much of Europe, including the UK, Germany, Austria and France, is now available to early adopting subscribers. The May 26th scheduled launch, subject […]